Hump Day Hitslist: American political songs

The mid-term elections for Congress and Senate in the U.S. closed yesterday, and official estimates are that campaign spending on these elections will quadruple the previous record spent on a non-presidential vote thanks to the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission; corporate funding of independent political broadcasts is now without limit due to First Amendment rights of free speech, the Court held. There are strong arguments on both sides for the way in which the Court's judgment helps and hurts democracy, but those are discussions not meant for this humble blog.  Instead, we will celebrate these heady times by rounding up 5 of the best political songs about America ever written for this week's Hump Day Hitslist. Limiting the Hitslist to all things States-side means there will be no "Redemption Song", "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" or "God Save The Queen", but there's a cornucopia of other delights representing political messages from a variety of genres and from every class and corner of that historic and proud patchwork called the United States of America. Bear in mind that because there are so many excellent protest songs out there, not only are there glaring omissions within the genres selected, but there are whole genres of fertile political ground that had to be left off the Hitslist in the interest of brevity. Feel free to add your other favourites in the comments section, but be sure to let us know why that's the song for you!

Psychedelic Soul
Edwin Starr- "War": Originally written for The Temptations on their Motown label in 1969, the song was eventually released as a single with Edwin Starr as vocalist to avoid alienating The Temptations' more conservative fan-base. Breaking all lyrical rules of 'show-don't-tell', "War" is about as in-your-face as an anti-Vietnam War song can get. Reaching number one on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1970, it is one of the most successful protest songs ever recorded. In a rather political move of its on, Clear Channel Communications placed "War" on its controversial "No Play List" following the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001. Issued to the more than 1,200 radio stations owned by Clear Channel, the list contained 166 songs, including any song by Rage Against the Machine, which dovetails nicely into our next playlist entry.

Rap Metal

Rage Against the Machine - "Killing in the Name": While used more recently in a Facebook campaign to stop the winner of Simon Cowell's t.v. talent show X Factor from gaining the Christmas number one single in the UK, "Killing in the Name" has served more serious purposes since it was released in 1992 on Rage Against the Machine's eponymous debut. With only six lines of lyrics, this recording is one big howling expletive reviling against the American military-industrial complex that justifies killing in the name of, as Zack de la Rocha belts, the "chosen whites".

Jazz Blues
Billie Holiday - "Strange Fruit": Billie Holiday possesses one of the most magical voices in music history, and uses her famed pipes to spellbinding effect on this haunting track. Derived from the lines of a poem by Abel Meeropol in response to the practice of lynching African-Americans in the Southern states, "Strange Fruit" uses its central metaphor to detach the lyrics from their ghastly subject, bringing this taboo subject to the public discourse decades ahead of the civil rights movement.

"Southern trees bear strange fruit/ Blood on the leaves and blood at the root/ Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze/ Strange fruit hanging from the popular trees"

Rock
Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Fortunate Son": Where Edwin Starr's protest song is a damning indictment of the entire venture of the Vietnam War, CCR's "Fortunate Son" castigates the American authorities that conscripted the poor to a distant war, and questions the classist foundations of the country itself. Contrasting the individualistic selfishness of fortunate sons born with "silver spoon in hand" against the patriotic generosity of the poor, John Fogerty's leathery voice encapsulated an entire generation's sentiment over music that could be from none other than the heartland.

"Some folks are born to wave the flag/ Ooh they're red white and blue/ And when the band plays "Hail to the Chief"/ Ooh they point the cannon at you, Lord"

Folk 

Woody Guthrie - "This Land is Your Land": Though 24 years later Bob Dylan would capture the spirit of the 1960s counter-culture movement with "The Times They are a-Changin'", the archetypal folk protest song belongs to Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land". As a direct response to the jingoistic "God Bless America", Guthrie wanted to write a song that spoke frankly of the real problems facing America after he had traveled the States through the 1930s Dust Bowl exodus. Guthrie used his guitar, famously stickered with the slogan "This machine kills fascists", to tackle the definition of liberty, individual rights and property ownership in this patriotic creed for the Everyman.